Okami The Lost Arts of Love
by Amasteru Fang
Summary: Amaterasu's younger sister, Amasteru Ama is forced to choose to marry the two men she loves so she goes to Nippon to find out the meaning of love with Waka and Oki at her side, little do they know Nippon is about to be thrown into darkness once more.
1. Turning the tables of love

Okami; The lost arts of love

Chapter one; Turning the tables of love

"NOW DO IT NOW!" He yells out at me. I ready my grip on the handle of my trust blade Savokami, swing it back and lurch it forward sending it into the imp's forehead. The blood splattered everywhere, my fur now covered in its foul crimson colour. "More, more mon cher! Attack with all of your might!" I turn back and grin impishly,

"Yes Master Waka." I take one last swipe at the imps around me to put an end to their evil ways for good.

"Good job Amasteru." Claps Waka. "Your sister would be proud." He grins. I scamper back to him. "Yes, thank you for the training lesion Captain Waka." Waka kneels down and pats my head.

"Didn't I tell you not to call me that Amasteru?" I look up at him quickly.

"But the Tao troopers always call you that, it's more polite to call you that I just want to address you in the highest form I can." Waka chuckles,

"But mon cher, you know you're special to me. You're not just Amaterasu's younger sister, you're the goddess of beauty yourself and a very close friend of mine." I sit up proudly and lick his hand.

"But didn't I tell you not to call me Amasteru." I grin cheekily. Waka holds my head with both of his hands. "Yes ok mon cher, we'll call it a truce. If I call you what you want me to call you if you call me Waka." We both nod at each other.

"Ok, then call me Ama, just like everyone else does." We both laugh. After a while of rolling on the ground laughing at each other we decide to go back to our homes. Waka lives not too far away from the palace where I and my sister Amaterasu live. He lives in his reasonable sized house just on the outskirts of the forest of freedom. It's only about five minutes' walk from ours. It's just a walk down the track out the front of the castle and across the river.

Waka and I have been best friends ever since I can remember. It's so nice to have him back in Takamagahara, which is what we call the celestial plain. Waka and my sister whet on some kind of journey to save Nippon from Orochi and Yami. Now that, that's all over everything is back to normal. Waka and I have been so close ever since I was a pup, he was one of the only ones to ever truly understand me and because of that I would always go to him if I had any problems and he'd always be more than happy to help out. I guess that's why we're so close now, I see him as kind of a mentor or guardian as well as a best friend of cause. I'm also close to my sister Okami Amaterasu, even our names are close. My name is Okami Amasteru so our names are pretty similar. Because of this everyone always calls me by a nickname; Ama, they also sometimes call my sister Ammy. Her markings are not as complex as mine however, I often brag about how mine are so much more beautiful than hers. We tease each other a lot, probably because we're sisters but we are still very close. She is the most dependable being I know, even more so than Waka seeing as he sometimes forgets things. Ammy can always keep secrets, no matter what they are she doesn't judge them, and I've always loved that. I guess I have a lot more to say but it's back to the story at hand.

As I trot back to the palace and walk through its castle doors I'm greeted by a familiar feeling. Just as I set paw into the palace Oki pounces on me and pins me to the floor. "Why hello there my beautiful princess 3" I try to hide my blush but he has pinned my arms to my chest.

"O-Oki… What are you doing?" I stutter. He grins and brings his head in close to mine to kiss me, just before he does he's knocked off me. I quickly stand up.

"Waka!" I sing. "Thank goodne… I mean why are you here?" I ask. Now I know Oki very well and we are very close friends, we have been that way ever since childhood but Oki has always said he loves me. It's not that I dislike Oki it's just he doesn't give me enough room for me to figure out how I feel. I guess he wouldn't be bad for a partner I guess he's my best friend so it's hard to think of him like that. "Now lady Ama wouldn't it be better to spend the evening with me?" Waka chuckles as he throws his flute up in the air and catches it. His flute; "Pillow talk" can turn into a sword and I guess that's what he used to get Oki off me. I look up at Waka, "I'm not sure what you mean by that." Waka's always saying odd things like that to me but I've never been to the human world so I guess I don't understand what he means sometimes. Waka kneels down and whispers in my ear, "Just to make him jealous I wanted to whisper you something." As soon as he stands back up Oki flies into a rage. "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO HER?"

"BAHAHAHAH!" Waka laughs, "You're just as silly as you look Oki, I say one thing to her and already you're as fiery as the sun." Oki blushes and glares at Waka before walking off into the dining room. Waka kneels down again. "Now mon cher I think it's time I awakened your true form, it is a formal dinner tonight so the situation seems suiting." Waka then kisses my forehead, just as he does I transform into my goddess form. My goddess form looks just like a human, every god has their spirit and god form, the spirit form is their animal and their god form is their human form which shows our true beauty. Everyone always said I was the most beautiful god in Nippon but I've never paid attention to this much. "Waka I've never seen you change me like that before. You know I can change on my own now, I'm not a kid anymore." Waka smiles softly and whispers to himself as he walks into the dining room, "I guess I just wanted to kiss you myself." I know that he though I didn't hear that but I did, still I pretended not to notice. I never wanted to displease Waka in anyway, I've always wanted to make him happy. So I follow him into the dining room.

Amaterasu, Waka, Oki, Issun, Mother and father and I sit down to eat our formal feast, even though I don't know why we are having such a formal dinner tonight. My mother looks across the table at me and makes an announcement, "Now Ama, I know it has only been about a year since your sister and her friends came back to the Celestial plain," Issun rudely interrupts,

"I've never been here before so technically I'm not 'back'." Issun chuckles. My mother however was not amused. "Yes, whatever." She mumbles. "Well with the coming of age and maturity it is time for you to pick a suitable partner. Of cause you have the choice of two men, the one I picked out and the one father has picked out." I freeze. Issun bounces around the table.

"But I didn't even get picked!" He shouts. My father grins impishly,

"That's because you're too small to satisfy her." Ammy bursts out laughing, Oki and Waka also chuckle but it's nothing compared to my sisters roar of laughter. "What this is so sudden. Why do I need to pick now? And who are these men?" I shout. My mother grins lightly,

"Now dear, you will have three day to pick which one you want to marry so you have some time. If you marry you can take up the role as leader of the celestial plain." I look awkwardly over to Ammy who is trying to avoid my glare. "But Why isn't it Ammy who does this? Isn't she the oldest?" I mutter. "Now Ama, your sister has much else to do, she has ended her partnership with Woolbaron after giving birth to her first child. She wishes to pursue other goals. So this duty is passed down to you. You are the most beautiful goddess in Nippon many men have asked to marry you even though Ammy was the expected successor." I nod, still looking over to Ammy who is hiding her smirk with a drumstick. "Ok fine, but who are the two men?" I dare ask. My father stands up and walks to the side of the table, my mother follows. My father stops at Oki and my mother at Waka. These are the men we have chosen. I stare at Oki and Waka. I slowly stand, take one step backwards and rush as fast as I can to my room. "Ama!" My father calls our after me. Mother places her hand on his shoulder and nods, "Just give her some time, she'll come around."

I lay on my bed for hours, its well into the late hours of the night now. I've come to some conclusion to how I feel about them. Waka is such a great guy, but it's like he's too good for me. Waka has accomplished may things in his life but I've never even ben to earth so I don't understand many of the things he says or cares about. What kind of relationship would it be if I couldn't understand half of the things he talks about and likes. I know I nod along to the things I don't get but it wouldn't be ok for me to do that if we were married. What about Oki? He was my best friend for as long as I can remember. Although he has always been very up front about his feelings and almost always makes a move on me whenever we're alone so I've known for a long time. He crowds me with his feelings but I guess I wasn't ready to listen to my feelings. With Waka I could never have seen it, He loves me. With Oki it's the thing he says to me the most so I already knew. Even though I never paid attention to my feelings it's only now that I realise it… I love… both of them.

I've never noticed but I knew on some level I guess. I always admired Waka even thought about what it would be like to kiss him, but every time I start to wonder I tell myself to stop. I would tell my elf, "He's too good for you, or how could you think about him in such a way." I always thought Waka was someone higher than me, now I think I get some of the odd things he said to me like, "You always smell s nice Lady Ama." Or, "Your eyes glow like the moon but one hundred times more bright." I think that he might have been trying to be romantic but I wouldn't know for sure. Oki wouldn't be bad either, he's very strong and noble and I've always admired that in him but I never realised I loved him. I always get so nervous when he says something to me that I just toss it aside. Now I know how I feel, but how do I choose between them? With everything I think it always leads me to the same conclusion… Go to Earth. If I can learn how to live in Nippon and learn how to understand these feelings and about romance from anywhere it's there. So I know I must go to Nippon to find out what love actually is. I want to know what romance is and how to understand it, I want to learn how to understand what I feel and I want to learn which one I should choose.

'Knock, Knock, Knock!' Someone knocks on my door. I jump of my bed to open it. I open it slightly. "Who is it?" I whisper. I hear a slow tune played in response. This is the sound of Waka's Pillow talk, his magical flute. This is the same tune he always played for me when I was little. All throughout the time I've known him he always played me this tune. _I think back to one of my memories. _

"_Waka, what is this tune? Why do you always play it for me?" _

"_Mon cher, this is the song I wrote for you and you only. I call it Lady Ama's lullaby. I will only play it in your presence." _

"_But why did you make me a lullaby? I can sleep on my own."_

"_Oh mon cher, it is not just to make you fall asleep. It is so that when you hear this melody you will think of me. I pray that one day when you hear this song you will hear how I feel for you intertwined in its notes, and maybe just maybe when you're old enough you will feel the same way."_

It's only now that I understand what he meant. So he loved me all along? So he just waited for the time when I was ready? "Are you ok my lady?" He asks as he pokes his head through the door.

"Oh, yes I'm fine. It's just… I have decided what I want." Waka leans in even closer,

"Yes my love?" I smile and stroke his long blonde hair. "I always wished you'd do that."

"Hah?" I say shocked. Waka pushes the door open and hugs me.

"How I always stroked you hair, I wanted you to do the same to me." I tilt my head in confusion.

"But… I don't understand?" I whisper under my breath.

"No, you never showed your feelings to her so how would she be able to understand." I look up to find Oki at the door. "You never announced your love to her, but I have. How could she choose you over me? She never knew how you feel so she only has three days to get her head around it, but she already know I love her so I guess that's your loss." Oki gives an evil grin. They both turn to me and ask, "WHO DO YOU CHOOSE!" I look down at the floor.

"I have three days to choose, but I need a lot more than that. I have decided… to go to Nippon!" I shout. A long silence falls over us. "I-I'm sorry." I run out of my room, down the stairs and outside. I keep running all the way to the Ark of Yamato. The ark is my only way down to Nippon. I climb aboard and look around to see how to take off. "You know I'm the only one who can activate it my lady." I look up at the mast to see Waka standing at the top. He jumps down and glides slowly to the floor. "I see you're wearing your eagle helmet again." I chuckle. Waka nods, we turn to find Oki struggling to get onto the ark. He falls to the floor of the ark. "You're not thinking of going without me are you? Surely you don't believe that I'll leave her alone with you even for a second while she has to decide between us." Waka laughs,

"Of cause not, we shall all go. You need me to pilot this ark and if I go with you Oki must." Waka turns to me and smiles, "You cannot complete this journey without us." Oki hits Waka on the shoulder. "So you saw this in one of your visions did you not?" Waka turns to him and grins impishly,

"Indeed I did, we must stay together for this journey to be fulfilled. For Ama to find out the answers to her questions we must stay by her side and help her." He jumps up onto the front of the ark and grabs the wheel. "Well then. LET'S GO!" He yells as he spins the wheel rapidly. We take off quite fast. As I look back at the Celestial plain I see Okami and Issun waving us goodbye. The beauty of the Celestial plain can be seen even from a distance, now it is reduced to a small looking floating island in the sky. As we descend upon the land of Nippon I know that the journey I, no we are about to undertake will be a difficult one.


	2. A demon's gift is a goddess' curse

Chapter 2: A demon's gift is a goddess' curse

I'm woken up by Waka softly shaking me and whispering my name. "Ama, Ama sweetheart wake up. We're here." I open my eyes slowly, my vision focuses on his face which is the closest he's ever been to mine before. "Uh…I…I can smell your breath." As soon as I said that I wish that I didn't. Oh my gosh how could I have just said that! He looks at me and frowns, oh great now I've done it. "I hope that doesn't smell bad, does it?" He says worried. Thank the gods he wasn't mad at me. I shake my head, "No of cause not, it has the fragrance of a thousand roses!" I recover, but I also wish I didn't say that. Oh my gosh I'm such a weirdo! Waka smiles again and strokes my hair. I can feel the blood rushing to my face and turning it a bright red. "You're blushing," Waka chuckles. I turn away quickly.

"No I'm not."

I stop thinking about what just happened and look at the big beautiful tree in front of me. "I.. It looks just like the guardian sapling in the scrolls in the Celestial plain but it's so much bigger that I thought it would be." I sigh with relief, we were in Kamiki village the place I'd always wanted to see. "This is a nice lookout point." Oki mutters as he walks up to us, he had obviously just woken up. "Had a good night's sleep my un-masked friend?" Waka giggles. Oki snarls at him rudely,

"Don't be so cocky pretty boy!" Oki had left his mask back at home so his face was uncovered, I always liked it when he took his mask off to show his handsome face so I guess that's why he didn't bring it. "Say, why did you leave your beloved mask behind?" Waka questions.

"Because Ama needs to see the love in my eyes when I look at her." Oki smirks. Well I was close, I think? Waka stands up slowly, his trusty flute 'Pillow Talk' in his hand. He grabs my hand and leaps onto Konohana the great Guardian sapling. We jump down the branches acting like steps the way they have grown. Oki crosses his arms and grunts in jealousy. "I can do better." He mumbles. Oki's body engulfs itself in a blue flame-like energy, his human body transforms into his wolf form. He bounds down from the ark parked on top of a cliff out of site from the humans and strait down to the ground with numerous flips and twirls as he comes down. "Wow that was so cool!" I cheer.

"Tres' bein, most impressive my howling friend." Waka claps. He's such a good sport. Even if Oki is his rival he still thinks of Oki as a good friend, I'm sure Oki does too but he's still too stubborn to admit it. "So what now?" Oki utters still smirking. I close my eyes as I distinctly hear the sound of bells. I look up at Konohana, I've just laid my eyes upon one of the most beautiful people I've ever seen. She was floating about 2 Meters in the air with some kind of glowing mist surrounding her.

"Greetings sister of Amaterasu. Great mother of beauty Amasteru." She sings. Even her voice was beautiful. "Oh I'm not as beautiful as you." I chuckle. The woman floats down to me and hugs me.

"How kind you are my child." She whispers. "My name is Sakuya," She continues, "I am the spirit of Konohana, a tree sprite." Oki and Waka step forward as if they notice something odd and come forth to protect me. I look at their faces and see they look kind of upset. I step back and look at her expression, in her face I see sadness and fear. She looks at me and sighs, "I'm afraid things are not all they seem in Nippon at the moment. Yesterday at the stroke of midnight this world had its beauty stolen by a most powerful demon. Oh Great mother of beauty please save us and rid this land of the cursed zones and evil demons that have once again plagued Nippon." She pleads to me with such desperation in her voice. "What kind of demon has done this?" I ask as I look around at the rest of the village. The entire place seemed fine but I could hear the whispers of evil spirits on the wind. Sakuya puts her hand on my shoulder. "His name is Oroki, he is the brother of the evil demon Orochi. He is much more powerful than his brother. Rumours are going around that he knew you were coming and has sent out one of his head minions to find you. I'm afraid that is the extent of what I know as it has only been a few hours since all of this has happened." I look back at Oki and Waka, Their faces both strong and determined. I know that I'm not going to get them to go back home and deal with my duties as a goddess at a time like this. I'll have to put my questions for love on hold and start finding out more about this Oroki and his accomplice's evil plans. "What will they get out of doing this?" I growl firmly. "Destroying happiness to replace it with their own rule of dark power. This is foul and I shall not rest till this land is free." Sakuya smiles faintly,

"Your words have given me strength, I know you will do us proud." I smile back and nod.

"My power has protected this village. Yet the land beyond this tiny sanctuary has felt the true power of Oroki's curse." I nod again. Oki steps up beside me and raps his arms around me in a passionate hug. He chuckles and places one of his hands over my breast, I blush and freeze. Oki turns to Waka with an evil grin across his face. Waka pulls his shirt back causing him to let go, Waka pulls out his sword and holds it to Oki's side. "You will show her respect!" He yells. I've never seen Waka so angry before. Sakuya to my surprise bursts out in a fit of laughter. "My, oh my, you have brought along with you some rather crude humour haven't you?" I feel myself start to laugh as well but force myself not to. Waka lets Oki go with a warning. "Next time I won't be so nice tres' bein? Now you own Lady Ama an apology." Waka declares, his face still red with anger he back-hands Oki's face. Now this is when I laughed, again this is one of those things I wish I didn't do. Oki looked back at me embarrassed, he hung his head in shame hiding his sad expression form me. "I…I'm sorry Ama." He mumbles. I smile and hug him. "You are forgiven." I whisper to him. I look at Waka, his looking at us with some sorts of jealousy in his eyes yet he looks away trying to hide it. I realise now I somewhat enjoy making them both feel jealous.

"Ok mon cer." Waka pronounces as he pushes Oki off of me. "Let's see what's going on."

We say our goodbyes to Sakuya and decide to first take a look around the village before setting out. We patrol slowly around the village scanning the area for any villagers in need, but everyone was hulled up in their homes with locked doors. "All of the people must have been very scared to lock themselves away like this." Oki murmurs as he knocks on the last door. We wait there in silence for a few seconds. "Ugh, again no answer, how are we meant to find out what's going on if no one will even open their doors?" Waka starts to lose his temper but quickly represses it. Oki looks back and grins, "We could just break the doors down." Waka looks at Oki and frowns,

"You know as well as I do that won't be any help. Besides no one here will know much as this village was protected by Sakuya's power. We should talk to someone who knows more about the curse." I look up at the sun, even the light of my sister's power can't reach this world as well as it should. "I'm not sure what to do, though I think Waka has a point we should go outside the village if we're going to get any answers it's not going to be from here," I declare. Both Waka and Oki nod and we begin to walk towards the path to Shinshu field. "WAIT!" calls out a small voice. We all turn around, to our surprise a young boy and his dog come rushing towards us. "I know about the curse!" He cheers. He stops when he finally reaches us and puffs before continuing. "I-I know about it." He huffs. Waka kneels down and places his hand on the boy's shoulder. "It's ok just wait to catch your breath."

The boy looks us up at us. "My name's Mushi and this here's my trusty partner Hayabusa." He points to the scruffy looking dog next to him. "So what do you know?" I ask. Mushi clenches his small fists and places his left hand on his chest. "I saw some demon imps patrolling the village last night, when Susano came out to fight them off we all heard a huge roar just like Orochi's yet this one seemed even scarier. We all ran and hid in our houses, even Susano was scared out of his wits. This morning I heard some voices so I snuck outside with Hayabusa and we hid behind a tree. I overheard two demons talking, they were saying stuff like how they wanted to drink all of Kushi's sake and that they wanted to eat some Ogre livers and all this gross stuff." Waka pats Mushi's back.

"That's great but do you have any information that will help us?" Mushi shakes his head to focus.

"Well the weird thing was after that there was another demon that came but he looked different. He had big armour on and a really cool mask. He didn't look like the imps at all, he looked like a human but with a long spiky black tail a set of long twisty horns. He seemed to be their master but then they said that he was the one sent to find you guys so I knew there would be help coming." Mushi smiles at me. I smile back in reply, "Yes we are here to help, thank you for your information."

"Ok so we know what the guy looking for us looks like, so if we see anyone like him we don't trust him." Oki declares. "Thanks kid." Oki winks at Mushi and gives him a playful thumbs up. I chuckle, I hardly ever see Oki like that but whenever a kid is around he starts to act kind of goofy. Waka stands up and nods us towards the exit of the village. Mushi wakes us goodbye as we leave to Shinshu filed.

We come slowly out of the village and to our horror the entire field is placed under a cursed zone. Every tree was dead and withered, every patch of grass was replaced by a swirling black mist so thick you could hardly see through it. The big Guardian sapling in the centre of the field was emitting a black and red haze which swirled around it just like the mist swirled around the rest of the field but this was just plain creepy. The tree had no flowers or leaves like Sakuya's tree did, this was the power of the cursed zone. "Well this is a rather nasty one," Waka pronounces. We all look at each other and then back at the cursed zone. "So how are we going to do this?" asks Oki. "There are no monsters for me to slay," he wines. Waka chuckles but I try not to.

"Amasteru, you know what to do." Waka nods. I nod back,

"Ok, get ready." I grin with pride. Finally I get to use the full extent of my brush skills that Ammy and Waka always taught me. My body glows a bright white light and I convert into my wolf form. I ready my ink-covered tail and swirl my tail in a circle making sure it covers the tree in the distance. At that moment the entire field bursts into life, from the tree life spreads back into Shinshu field, the flowers bloom all around, the clear water bursts back to life and the radiant shine of the Guardian sapling emits its glorious display of bright pink flowers. "Wow!" Oki whispers. "You're wonderful." He sings trying to make sure Waka hears. Yet Waka ignores him. "OK on to the next place then, I recon we should head to Hanasaki Valley then off to Agata forest and we'll rid those places of the cursed zone before we go ahead and get ourselves into more trouble than we can handle." Waka announces. "I agree, it's better for Ama to practise her powers in the smaller parts of Nippon before we take on the big places with more powerful curses." Oki agrees. Waka grins at Oki's statement.

"It's nice to see that you're finally agreeing with me on at least one thing." Waka chuckles as he turns and walks off. "What is that supposed to mean?" Oki roars aggressively as he chases after him. I follow.

"Hmhmhmhm," a voice laughs. "I see so you can use the brush techniques just like your sister Amasteru. You may have succeeded easily this time Lady Ama but do not expect it to be so easy the next…." The figure emerges from the shadows as he looks upon the three friends heading towards the valley too far away to notice him. He takes off his mask and reveals a huge evil grin. "Next time you will have more to do than just circle a tree," chuckles the man. "Enter, Nero," he whispers as he stares across the field at the three, totally unaware they are about to walk right into Nero's trap.


	3. A new hero or a new villain

Chapter 3: A new hero or a new villain?

The atmosphere grew silent as we entered Hana Valley. The air was stale, the wind carried the sent of monsters even the water flowing through the Valley was black guck swelling around. The dead grass and wilting trees seemed so devoured by the curse, a tear ran down my face as I realised what beauty had been taken from this land. "It's ok Mon cher." Whispers Waka as he places his hand on my shoulder, only to have it knocked of my Oki's jealous hand. We walk steadily along the given path observing the effects of the demons power. Oki noticing random groups of imps around the place leaps with a simple on his face. "Taste the wrath of my blade foolish beasts!" he shouts as he slices each imp in half. It all seems a bit too easy how weak these imps are to us, even I don't break a sweat taking care of them. "This isn't right." I mutter. Oki and Waka turn to me.

"What do you mean?" they reply, I look around analysing the scene.

"They're all too weak. Why is it so easy to kill them?" Waka smiles at me,

"Tre bein mon cher I agree. It is far too easy for us. So I would think there is some sort of trap ahead of us." Both Oki and I nod along. I start to walk along the path through a tunnel.

"Hold up honey. We shall protect you," Oki utters proudly as he walks ahead of me, Waka follows.

We follow the shady path along a bridge and past some cursed trees which Oki seems to enjoy slashing and tearing apart. Waka snickers at his almost clumsy thrashings at the trees, they throw their flaming cursed fruits at him as he knocks them back with his blade. It was quite a sceptical even if Waka found it humorous how reckless he was. He finally manages to defeat all the infected trees so we could move on. We come to a clearing around the corner. The symbols painted on the wall of the sun and people worshiping in made me happy to see nothing bad had happened to it, my sister used to tell me stories of her adventures and she did once mention this place and the painting on the wall. She had also mentioned that it was instructions on how to save Hanna Valley. "Ok I know what to do." I say. We carefully tread under the cave and up to the main clearing. A withered small seedling lay on the ground. "We have to find a crystal ball and bring it up to the alter." Waka and Oki stare at me. "I see so your sister has told you a lot about her adventures here in Nippon," Waka chuckles. "Well of cause," I nod.

"We'll that'll come in handy," says Oki.

I search around until I come across a broken down pole, I use my brush skill Slash to cut them all down. We follow the path till we get to a room with a crystal ball laying in the centre. Waka holds me back. "Something's not right," he whispers. WE hear a laugh coming from the crystal. "The crystal is alive?" Oki says. Someone stands up from behind it and turns to us. "Oh cause not." He grins.

"Who are you?" Waka snarls. The man walks over to us slowly.

"Well that's not such a nice greating," he jumps over to me so quickly we couldn't even see it and puts his hand on my cheek, "Shouldn't you be a little more…. Gentle." Oki and Waka draw their swords and hold them up to his neck. The man jumps back so fast it was like he wasn't human.

"What are you?" I mutter. He smiles at me, I can feel myself blush. Why did I just blush? Now I think about it he is really handsome. "Relax, I'm not your enemy. I'm trying to get to the bottom of this cursed zone and rid the land of demons. It's the least I can do as our Goddess Amaterasu saved us all last time. I just feel I must repay her."

"Why should we believe such a suspicious character such as you?" Waka snickers at the man.

"It's up to you weather you trust me or not, it's not like I was here on purpose. It is just a coincidence." Waka and Oki look at each other still suspicious.

"Whatever, it's not like I was asking to tag along with you guys. I can ride this place of the cursed zone myself." He pushes the crystal out of the room with ease, we follow him watching in disbelief. He pushes it up to the top of the alter and pulls out a brush from a bag around his waist. He draws a circle in the sky, to all of our surprise the sun shines down a strong ray of light the activates the ulter. A blast of water carries the ball into the sky and the withered sapling stands up. He jumps up incredibly high and preforms the bloom brush skill to make the sapling grow and burst out in a flurry of beautiful flowers. The bloom spreads across the entire valley and the entire Valley is reborn, the flowers and trees all returned to normal, yet it seems even more are there now. "Wow, you're so powerful!" I shout not realising how childish I seem. The man laughs,

"Thank you Miss, now I'll be on my way." He replies.

"NO!"

Everyone turns to me. "It's just, you'll be better off coming with us. I mean, I am Amaterasu's sister. My name is Ama." Both Oki and Waka frown, I know they don't want him following us but I trust him somehow I know he's on our side. "Thank you Miss Ama, I would be delighted to. That is if you accompanies don't mind me tagging along?" He looks over to Oki and Waka who are still frowning suspiciously at him. "I still don't trust you but it seems stupid to let you go seeing as you know how to use the brush skills. So you can, just so we can keep an eye on you." Waka walks right up to him till they are face to face. "But if you ever lay a finger on Ama, I will kill you."

"Hold on, what's your name?" Oki grunts. The man closes his eyes for a moment and chuckles.

"My name? It's Nero."

We leave Hanna Valley and head over to Agata forest. I can't stop staring at him, Nero seems different than most. He keeps looking at me too occasionally. I can't help but to blush and look away hoping that he won't notice me. I stop, we've come to an underground lake. The others have no trouble getting to the other end. Waka walks over the water, Oki swims and Nero stand next to me just looking at me. I know he can get over there though. "Are you ok?" he asks.

I shake my head, "I hate getting wet. Nero picks me up and jumps across, wall to wall to the other side. "Thank you." I say.

"You're most welcome Ama." Nero puts me down gently. His white hair glows in the light coming through the hole in the wall. His long black robe blows in the wind. He really is very handsome. "What's the blush for Ama? The guys a weirdo." Oki shoves my back. I put my hands on my face. How could I be blushing? "It's just coz it's hot in here ok!" We walk into the forest. "I…its gone!" Waka screams. The entire forest was gone, all that remained was a white room with nothing in it. Nothing even exists here anymore. "What's going on?" I whisper. "What does this mean?"


	4. Greyscale

Chapter 4; Grey scale

"Why?" I think out loud. I look around at the empty world, shocked at what I see. "Everything's white, the only thing I see is a white room. "What are you talking about? Everything's black." I look over at Oki who's looking around the room. I turn to Waka and nudge him, "It's all white, isn't it?" Waka looks down at me and shakes his head. "The room is black Ama." Nero puts his hand on my shoulder and turns me around. "If there's anything any of us can do it's you." I nod, I know his right. I'm the only one who sees this room different. Nero steps forward but trips and accidentally pushes me. "Watch out!" We fall forward, I look back at Oki and Waka who disappear with a flash. We were in a different place now. The room was still white but I can see the guardian sapling, but it's already in full bloom. "What do we do now?" I ask. He looks around.

"Well there's the sapling, but it's already in bloom so nothing should be wrong. I'm not sure." He takes out his brush and nods at me. "You should use your brush too." Yes, he's right. If I can do anything for this place it would be in my wolf form. I quickly transform and ready my tail. "Ok, I'm ready," I bark. We raise out brushes and circle the tree just in case. Nothing happened.

"Ok, plan B." Nero mutters to himself.

"What is plan B?" Nero grips his brush tightly and hums,

"I'm not entirely sure." I laugh at him, I thought he'd know what to do seeing as he acts like such a hot shot all the time. "You're ridiculous." Nero looks at me with sad eyes,

"I hope that's not what you think of me." His expression, it's so cute. I shake my head, I can't think of him like that. I walk around a little what catches my eye is a small red arrow stuck in the side of the tree. "What's this?" I say as I reach out to touch it.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Nero bellows. Just as I do I look back at him.

"Huh?" The entire arrow lights up and blasts out a powerful blast of light. The blast shoots me back, I stare at the now eliminated arrow. The white light fades to a black mist and then black, slimy ooze. It drips from the arrow until the entire arrow turns to this black liquid and forms a dark puddle on the ground. "What, just happened?" I scream.

"It was a trap. The thing you just touched… is a demon." I snicker,

"I've faced many before so this'll be no different from the rest." Nero grabs me and holds me back.

"Not just any demon, it can't be hurt by any attack in this world." I had never come across a demon like this before. Now I'm scared. "What do we do."

"There's only one thing we can do. We have to face it in its own world." I look at him puzzled.

"What do you mean?" I ask. Nero looks over at the black liquid, it looks bigger than before and more menacing. It's now started bubbling and it appears to be slowly moving towards us. "We need to let it swallow us, if we let it do that than it will take us into its own world and you will face it in its natural beast form. There's a catch though, if it hurts you there than your pain in this world will double so in other words don't let it get you." I frown at the ooze, it's much faster now and it's coming towards us at a fast rate. "Only one person can go through, if it swallows you than you might have a chance of beating it. You're more powerful than me, plus you were the only one who saw white instead of black in the room before which means only you are able to see its true form. Go now Ama and promise to come back." I nod and runs over to the black liquid and jump in, as I look back at Nero's expression something startles me. He was smiling.

I open my eyes. For some reason I'm back in my human form then I remember Nero's face smiling at me as I sank into the black ooze and shake my head. "No he was just exited by it all, I'm sure of it." I walk around the open grey floor. "OK this room is different." Its tiled grey floor stretched on forever, this endless world of the beast's inner form. This must be its mind. I feel heavy and confused, my vision could not be more distorted everything seems… like I've just jumped into a bubble like when you open your eyes under water. The demon, where is it? Something grabs my gaze, my eyes stick to a black patch on the floor. "Do you like it?" A voice whispers. The voice sounds so dark and unforgiving. "Do you like the world without colour? A world filled with nothing but empty shades of grey." I look at my hands, it's right everything is grey. Even I'm grey. "What is this?" I cry.

"This place is my world, how I see things, how I live. Do you know what it's like living in a world with neither colour nor light? Do you know my world?" I fall to my knees and break down into tears. It's so horrible, being in such a sad and hollow world. My emotions are overflowing. "Yes, that's it cry, feel disperse, feel sorrow. Let your tears and screams echo in this world and leave you all alone, because you are all alone in this world. The world of Grey scale!" Why, Why am I crying so violently? I stand up, my legs all wobbly and weak. I can feel pure rage racing through my very veins. "SHUT UP!" I scream as I leap towards the beast. I transform into a wolf as I fly through the air heading towards the dark patch on the floor. The demon comes out of the floor, its huge head shoots right past me with incredible speed. I land on the floor and turn to see the demon, its body long and thing without legs like a snake, its hugs horned face presented many glowing grey eyes. The only thing that seemed odd about this hideous demon was the eye in the centre of its head, it must be the beast's weak point. The eye remained shut, yet something about it made me feel uneasy. Ok now's my time to shine.

"What are you waiting for Goddess?" bellows the demon. "I have been waiting a very long time for a good fight and this is what I get, a mangy mutt who won't even lift a finger." I continue to sit still, waiting for the demon's first attack. I'll wait, I'll wait for his first move. "So be it," growls the demon as it charges towards me. I jump up, twist my body and slash its back with my Power-slash. "URGH!" screeches the beast. "You're more agile than I thought." I ready my tail, he lunges at me and grabs my tail with his jaws… just what I wanted. I slash the eye in the centre of his head. He throws me off wailing and howling in pain. The eye opens. An overwhelming sense of fear flows from the best's eye, it's yellow glow shining like the sun. Hold on a second, his eye… it's yellow. I thought this world had no colour yet his eye is yellow, just my chance it **IS** his weak spot. I rush towards him, yes he's still in pain I can get him. The beats spins its head and shoves me aside, I fly across the room and land on my back. Damn it, he's more defensive now. He lets out a deafening roar, the sound confuses me for a second I close my eyes tight. By the time I open them again he was gone, I turn to look for him, but he was nowhere to be found. I feel a power underneath me, I look down. The demon was inside the floor again and the black circle from before was surrounding me. I try to jump away but I can't move my legs, great what do I do now. Then I remember what my sister said about the battle with Yami.

"_It was really hard, the battle took ages, but towards the end when the sun disappeared I was scared I'd never see the light of the sun again then I remembered I had the most important brush skill of all, Sunrise." _

"Now I've got you!" I shout as I raise my tail and form a circle in the sky. A bright red sun appears, the darkness of the grey world was gone and colour leaked into it from the sun. It was beautiful, the steams of colour flew out of the sun and covered the land giving it texture and light. "NOOOOOOOOOO!" the demon bellows as it faded away into nothing. I had won. I close my eyes and bask in the sun's beauty, I'm glad I remembered that.

I open my eyes to find myself in on a small island surrounded by water and lots of extremely tall trees. This must be Agata forest. "Hey Ama!" calls out Waka from the hole in the wall we came through. Waka and Oki rush over to me smiling and laughing. I transform back into a human and hug them both as they approach. "What happened to you and Nero?" I stare at them in shock.

"OH MY GOSH, WHERE'S NERO?" I completely forgot about him.

"What you mean you lost him?" Waka says. Oki snickers and grips onto his sword.

"Who cares, the guy was a creep anyway," Oki shrugs.

"I must say I am a bit hurt from your comment Oki." We all turn around, Nero was leaning up against the tree behind us. "NERO!" I cry as I run over to him and hug him tight. I can hear the jealous snarls from Waka and Oki. "I'm glad your back," I say. Still I can't get the image of his smile out of my head, why was he smiling?


End file.
